Due to the roster overlap, it can be easy to confuseFatal Fury: City of the WolvesandThe King of Fighters 15. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a callback to SNK’s premier fighting game series from the 90s, while The King of Fighters 15 represents the series SNK continued to support even through its rough patches.
Both of these titles have a lot to learn, so it can be intimidating to decide which one to invest your time in. No matter the choice, KOF 15 and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves will have active online communities to compete against and learn from.
8Roster Selection
The King Of Fighters 15
Since KOF is a team-based game, it naturally features a much larger roster. In The King of Fighters 15, players can choose from several teams of three, mixing and matching characters to create custom lineups. It’s also common for multiple characters to be launched as DLC simultaneously, which tends to shake up the game’s meta more significantly than in most other fighting games.
Fatal Fury, on the other hand, emphasizes quality over quantity. Each character is designed with more in-depth mechanics, unique traits, and a clearly defined gameplay philosophy. While the roster is smaller, the differences between characters are more pronounced. Still, if you’re looking for sheer variety and flexibility, The King of Fighters 15 offers more options overall.
7Guest Characters
Fatal Fury: City Of The Wolves
It seems thatguest characters from other seriesare becoming a common feature in fighting games. Fatal Fury has taken this trend seriously by incorporating real-life celebrities into its roster. Star DJ, Salvator Gannaci, and one of the greatest soccer players of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, are all playable characters. Additionally, Fatal Fury features guest characters from Street Fighter, including Ken and Chun-Li as DLC.
In contrast, The King of Fighters 15 doesn’t feature any particularly surprising guest appearances. The most unexpected characters are the Samurai Shodown team, but they’re still part of the SNK family. The King of Fighters has always focused on cameos from other SNK series, which can feel a bit predictable.
6Visuals
Since The King of Fighters 15 is three years older than Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, it’s no surprise that it doesn’t look as polished. Pushing the boundaries of animation and visual detail has always been a hallmark of the Fatal Fury series.
As with previous entries, City of the Wolves features a more zoomed-in camera, allowing for a higher level of visual detail than what’s typically seen in a King of Fighters game. Much like Garou: Mark of the Wolves, it showcases fluid, expressive animation that makes characters look like moving paintings during juggles and combos.
5Pickup And Play
Both games are popular among tournament players, and neither is particularly beginner-friendly. However, players with prior fighting game experience will likely find it easier to get into The King of Fighters, despite its larger roster. For early progression in The King of Fighters 15, learning a few EX combos is often enough to become competitive.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a much more technical game. It features several mechanics that must be used with precise timing and require significant experience to master. Just Defend is a key high-skill technique that plays a major role in advanced play. The game also includes a two-lane system, forcing players to quickly assess their options based on whether their opponent is in front of or behind them.
4Defensive Options
The famous Just Defend mechanic from thebest Fatal Fury game, Mark of the Wolves, returns in City of the Wolves. By timing your block just before an attack lands, you gain a frame advantage that allows for a punish. In addition, the Rev Guard button lets you push your opponent away, breaking their momentum while still keeping you within footsie range.
In The King of Fighters, getting an opponent off of you typically requires spending a meter to blow them back across the screen. This creates a hard reset, but it’s not as dynamic as the defensive tools in Fatal Fury. While The King of Fighters does include a roll mechanic for repositioning, it doesn’t offer the same level of interaction or skillful reward as Just Defending.
3Overall Gameplay Depth
The King of Fighters is relatively straightforward, with most of its depth coming from learning the matchups acrossits large roster. The universal mechanics are fairly limited, and some characters follow similar flowcharts, which can make them feel like variations of the same template with different appearances.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, on the other hand, feels like it was designed as an e-sport from the ground up. Even after mastering the basics, intermediate players must begin implementing and optimizing deeper systems like SPG, REV, and feints, adding layers of complexity and skill expression.
2Online Connectivity
Tie
Whether it’s a port of an older game or a brand new entry in their extensive catalog, SNK has gone to great lengths to ensure its games feature excellent online netcode. Both The King of Fighters 15 and City of the Wolves have implemented rollback netcode effectively, allowing players to enjoy smooth online play with others around the world.
When The King of Fighters 15 launched, it faced a number of connectivity issues, but after several patches, it reached a satisfactory level. City of the Wolves, on the other hand, has offered solid online play since its release, with built-in security measures to flag cheaters. Overall, you’ll get a similar online experience with either game.
In terms of balance, variation, and presentation, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is undoubtedly the superior game. It will likely become the go-to title for SNK players in tournament settings, though The King of Fighters will still maintain an active community.
The main drawback of Fatal Fury is that it might betoowell-designed. Its numerous systems can be overwhelming for newcomers, but SNK has clearly put a great deal of thought and care into making City of the Wolves the deepest fighting game possible.
